Lewiston, Maine's second largest city, was long looked upon by many as a mill town with grimy smoke stacks, crowded tenements, low-paying jobs, sleazy clubs and little by way of refinement, except for Bates College. Yet, a noted Québec historian, Robert Rumilly, described it as "the French Athens of New England."

Before the era of recorded music and radio, nearly every community had a band that played at parades and other civic events. Fire departments had bands, military units had bands, theaters had bands. Band music was everywhere.

Farmington's Normal School -- a teacher-training facility -- opened in 1863 and, over the decades, offered academic programs that included such unique features as domestic and child-care training, and extra-curricular activities from athletics to music and theater.

The Downeast community's history as presented by a broad-based team of representatives from Surry Elementary School and Surry Historical Society. Topics covered include the Surry Opera House and Surry Playhouse, the Surry Village School and education over time in the community, sawmills, and early property owner Phebe Fowler. Students scanned and transcribed a large number of the items digitized for the project.

The history of a town bordered by the Kennebec and Sandy Rivers as depicted by students from Skowhegan Area Middle School working in close proximity with members of the Skowhegan Historical Society. Exhibits include the Skowhegan Island, farming, log drives, Benedict Arnold’s March, early settlement, Bloomfield Academy, Lakewood Theater, and the Abenakis.

The history of downtown Bath as created by the students of Bath Middle School, with assistance from members of the Sagadahoc History & Genealogy Room at the Patten Free Library and Bath Historical Society. Seventeen exhibits examine various historic blocks in the downtown section of the city.